McMorris Rodgers: Obama Administration Needs 'Rigorous Oversight'

The House of Representatives is passing legislation to bring more transparency to the Obama administration because "this government demands rigorous oversight to protect taxpayers from corruption," Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers said on Wednesday.

"The taxpayers have the right to know where and how their money is spent," the Washington state Republican said at a news conference on Capitol Hill. "The bills on the floor this week reinforce our commitment to increased transparency and accountability."

McMorris Rodgers, who as chair of the House Republican Conference is the No. 4 GOP legislator in the lower chamber, was joined by Reps. Mark Meadows of North Carolina and Tim Walberg of Michigan.

The GOP-controlled House is considering bills that would, for instance, stop the Internal Revenue Service from targeting those individuals or groups based on their political beliefs, would require federal agencies to publish more timely information on the status and cost of planned new regulations, and would demand that agencies develop new regulations that would impose the least costs to citizens and businesses.

The chairwoman said that after spending the last week in her district, she learned that her constituents were "frightened with a president and an administration that is unilaterally making decisions as to how they're going to implement the laws of the land.

"America has always been known as a country where we respect the rule of law," McMorris Rodgers added. "There's equal protection under the law and equal enforcement of the law.

"But today, we see an administration that is picking and choosing which laws they're going to enforce and how they're going to enforce them.

"We're all elected by the people who sent us here," she added. "I believe in representative government — and the current approach by this administration really undermines representative government."

In response to a question on Obamacare, Walberg slammed Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's criticism of a Michigan leukemia patient, Julie Boonstra, who was featured in an advertisement attacking Michigan Democratic Rep. Gary Peters for supporting the healthcare law. Peters is running for Senate this fall.

Boonstra said in the ad that she lost her health insurance after President Barack Obama had promised that Americans could keep their healthcare plans and their doctors if they liked them.

"If I do not receive my medication, I will die," she said. "I believed the president. I believed I could keep my health insurance plan. I feel lied to, it’s heartbreaking for me.

The spot is among many targeting Democrats who backed Obamacare in this fall's congressional elections that are sponsored by Americans for Prosperity, the conservative group co-founded by billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch.

Reid, the Nevada Democrat, called the ads "absolutely false."

In response, Walberg said: "Harry Reid can say what he wants to say.

"There are certain news media who are attacking her as a woman who has stood up — a leukemia patient, a brave woman — and they've attacked her."
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The House of Representatives is passing legislation to bring more transparency to the Obama administration because this government demands rigorous oversight to protect taxpayers from corruption, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers said on Wednesday.
The taxpayers have the right...